The capital of Ireland is being subjected to a ransom, er, strike by drivers employed by Dublin Bus. The five unions representing the drivers are seeking a whopping 15% pay increase over the next three years along with a 6% rise they say they were due to get under an agreement in 2009, but which was deferred. They have rejected a recommended 8.25% increase over the next three years. Meanwhile, the helpless commuters are being exposed to further misery and humiliation by one of Europe’s truly sub-standard public transport services.

In the 1970s, when Dublin was considerably less prosperous than it is today, the city had buses and their erratic presence was captured by John Wilfrid Hinde, an English photographer, whose nostalgic postcards of Ireland have acquired cult status.